What I Am
by xSeshatx
Summary: {Oneshot} Skip really comes back this time, and Peter isn't ready to deal with it. Neither is Tony. (Part 10 of the Peter Parker: Future Hearts series)


**Garbage. 0/10. But it's okay. The next ones will be bomb**

Tony was sad. He was also mad. But most of all, Tony was scared. Genuinely afraid. He became nauseous, got an instant migraine, and he had a small tremor in his hands. There was a real threat to Peter Parker out there (threats were everywhere, but this was a known threat which made this threat the biggest threat). This wasn't a Spider-Man villain who they could avoid just by having Peter change out of his suit; this was somebody who could find Peter at home, at school, or could follow him on the streets.

The first thing Tony did when Peter told him that he saw Skip was hug the kid. It was a short hug, but Tony knew he got his message across. When he let go, he made sure that he masked all the emotions coming off. That wasn't to say he was hiding anything, really, because they were both really open with each other when it came to whatever they were feeling. However, Tony didn't want Peter to see just how afraid he was. "So. Twice. The big question here is if Skip is following you. What do you think?"

"I don't know what I think," Peter admitted. "I'm not a big believer of coincidences, and there's too many factors in play here. It isn't a secret that you adopted me, and everybody knows where we live. Plus, I don't think I look too different. A little older, maybe, but…I don't know. I'm hoping I look different enough to not be immediately recognizable, but that's a bit naïve. At the same time, though, my spider-sense hasn't been going off. I don't feel like I'm being followed. Only time it's been off was today in the store, and if he was following me, I think I would have noticed sooner."

"You made a strong case for both sides. I know you're brainy and sciencey, and I know we always tell you to look at the facts, but what do you _feel_? Without thinking about it? What does this situation feel like to you, not to the overthinking?"

That was an easy question. "I feel like Skip recognized me."

"And do you think he's following you?"

"Maybe not _actively_, but…"

"But what?" Pepper pressed.

"But maybe he's keeping an eye out for me."

"So, not following you, per say, but watching for you just in case you happen to be around?" Tony asked for clarification. Peter nodded. "Okay. That's what we'll assume is going on until we have reason to think otherwise. What do you want to do about this?"

That was not such an easy question. "I don't know. I mean, I'd love to never have to see him again, but realistically, I don't think there's exactly much we could do."

"We could get a restraining order on him."

"Pepper said that, too, but we don't exactly have reason for a restraining order. We never made a police report before, and I'm not planning on reporting it _now_. And I only saw him twice. That's not nearly enough times to claim stalking."

Tony smirked. "You always forget who I am. If you want a restraining order, I could make it happen by tomorrow at the absolute latest."

Truth was, that wasn't going to work for Peter. "I don't want people to know that something happened…We trusted CPS not to let the fact that you adopted me out to the public. I don't know if I want to trust that some cops and a judge won't let this information out, too. That's…scary."

He had expected Tony or Pepper to argue with him. To convince him that his privacy would be protected. That a restraining order wouldn't backfire. But then both of them nodded in understanding. "I get why you're hesitant," Pepper said.

"So do I, but I feel like we should do something."

"What else is there to do?" Peter asked, knowing full-well that there wasn't exactly much else they could do.

Tony shrugged before speaking, letting them both know prematurely that the idea he was going to say was a weak one. "Anonymous tip to the police that he might be doing something shady. Worst case scenario, they can't find anything, or they can't get a warrant. Best case, we save some other helpless kid by getting him locked up and away from the public."

"Not a bad idea, really," Pepper said, also shrugging. Like, 'might as well.'

"You said 'shady.' I cannot believe you said 'shady.' Who even _are _you? I am blown away."

A smile. The tension in the room was dissipating. "Nice to meet you, 'blown away.' I'm dad."

Peter cried. Peter laughed so hard that he cried. Peter laughed so hard that he fell to the floor and cried. Peter laughed so hard that he fell to the floor repeating the words, "Oh my god," and cried.

And things were okay that day. The next day? Not so much. Not at all, actually. The next day, things were so far from okay and Peter couldn't remember things ever being okay before.

Warning bells. Within five feet of stepping out of the school, Peter's warning signals went off. They went off so strongly that he actually dropped his bookbag that was hanging casually from his shoulder as he reached a hand for Ned. He grabbed the back of his arm and kept him from moving forward. The warning wasn't telling him to duck or to fight or to run, but it was more of a heads up that something he did not want to be in contact with was about to make contact. It was so strong that he thought he forgot how to breathe like he was taught to. It didn't take Peter long to find the source.

_ Why in the world did Skip Westcott show up at school?_

Ignoring Ned's questions, Peter pulled out his phone and dialed Happy's number because this was absolutely not okay and Happy was near. Happy could help. "I know I'm running late, but I'll be there within five minutes," Happy said as he answered the phone. Peter went to speak, or at least he made the attempt to speak, but all he could do was hyperventilate. Only a couple of seconds went by and Peter realized that not only could he not manage to tell Happy what was going on, but Skip was now walking _towards_ him and Ned with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Pete!" Skip greeted, arms reaching forward for a hug.

Ned, the absolute best person in the entire universe, intercepted this hug that Peter obviously did not want to receive by just letting go of all of the books in his arms. He cursed as he went to pick them up, standing directly in front of Peter to do so. This was enough to get Peter's brain working again. Somewhat, at least. He focused in on the phone in his hands and heard Happy telling him that he would be there in two minutes, which meant that he heard the panicked breathing and was about to break a lot of driving laws. Then he focused in on Skip, who was now very awkward-looking from having his hug prevented. He kind of resembled someone who waved to somebody who had been waving at somebody else. That awkward. "What are you doing here?" Peter asked, letting his hand with the phone drop to his side as he took a small, almost unnoticeable step backwards. Almost.

"Heard that you were going to this school. Makes sense, considering how brainy you were as a kid. Wanted to come say hi and to catch up. I thought I saw you at the grocery store yesterday, but it must've been somebody else because they just left without saying hi, and I know you wouldn't leave me hanging like that, would you, Einstein?"

"What do you want?"

"I just told you," Skip said, head tilting to the side with a smile back on his face. "I've tried to find you on Facebook and Instagram, but you don't seem to have one." Peter didn't have a Facebook. That was for older people. He did, however, have an Instagram. He couldn't say his name was included, though (PetroParkour, nice to meet you). "I heard about May and Ben on the news."

"Don't talk about them," Peter said. His voice was tense. Some of his fear switched over to anger because Skip had no right to say Ben's name. Or May's name. Or Peter's name.

"I'm sorry. They're probably still a sore subject, huh? Especially May. You'll need to tell me what happened to her one day. But, for now, that was careless of me." He took a few more steps forward and now stood directly in front of Peter. Ned grabbed Peter's arm, ready to pull him away should he need to. "I've missed you. You've changed. You look more…more grown up. You look good, buddy."

"Who are you?" Ned finally asked.

"My name's Skip. Einstein here and I were pretty close back in the day. You living with Tony Stark, buddy? That's what everybody online has been saying. What's that like?"

"I forgot something in the school. I need to go."

Peter turned around and all-but ran back into the school, pulling Ned behind him. He didn't stop until he got to the first empty room he saw and then he shut the door. They were in some classroom. Peter dropped his bookbag on the floor and took a seat at a desk. "Pete? What's going on?" Ned asked, sitting down at the neighboring desk.

"That's _three_ times, Ned. Three."

"Dude, your phone." Peter lifted his hand and glanced at his now-smashed phone. He must have crushed without noticing because of how tense he was. "Is Happy here?"

"Almost."

"I'll go grab him, okay? Sit here and _breathe_, okay?"

Without his phone working, Peter didn't know exactly what to do while he waited. He was bouncing his knee and tapping his fingers to try to get some of that nervous energy out, but it wasn't working. It was always Skip. No matter what. His chest felt too tight to breathe naturally, so every breath he drew was deliberate. Every breath was the result of him reminding his lungs to inhale. Sitting around barely breathing with no phone to distract himself with was only making his anxiety grow, so he stood up and began to pace around the room. It was less of a pace and more of a jog, but he felt as if he was barely moving. How could everything be moving so fast yet so slow at the same time?

"Pete?" Ned called out. Peter stopped moving and turned to look at him in the doorway.

Happy moved past Ned and put his hands on Peter's shoulders. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's Skip."

Tony had told Happy the situation. He knew the entire ordeal, just without the details, of course. So, Happy knew of Skip. Happy knew how serious it was. "What do you need me to do?" he asked. "I can get you out of here or I can call Tony."

"Let's just get out of here."

Happy led. Peter followed. Ned held up the back. MJ, who had saw Peter's panic outside of the school, casually walked over and walked beside Peter. She slid her arm between his and connected them at their elbows, letting her hand rest on his arm. "What's going on?" she asked. She was staring straight ahead, not looking concerned. She reminded Peter of Pepper.

"We're leaving," Peter informed her. Unhelpfully.

"Then we're leaving." She didn't ask anymore questions. She just followed along. Peter almost forgot that his heart was pounding in fear because she made his heart skip a beat altogether. And that was it for those thoughts, but that was a lot to deal with that he wasn't yet ready to admit.

Ned said goodbye when they got to the car, but MJ decided she was going to tag along. They got in the backseat while Happy got in the driver's seat and all-but sped his way to the Tower. "I broke my phone," Peter mumbled, showing MJ the destroyed material in his hands. Starkphones were meant to be unbreakable (and they really were, for the most part), but it didn't really count for super strength like what Peter had.

"Damn, Parker," MJ commented, mostly in shock.

"Spider-Man strength, am I right? At least I didn't break the phone case Ned got me for my birthday. I forgot I took it off."

Peter ignored the stare coming from MJ because, yeah, there was that secret just _said_. There was no lead up to it. It wasn't said as some highly sensitive information. He just let the words come out as he stared at his feet and he held his phone out for her to inspect. There was no other way to tell MJ if she hadn't already known. They weren't there to make a big deal out of anything. They didn't have that kind of friendship.

"You think Tony will give you a new one?" she finally asked, opting to avoid commenting on the laid-back way he admitted his greatest surreptitious detail like he did. "I know he can, but will he after you broke this one?"

"Yeah," Peter answered. "I probably sound like a spoiled rich kid for knowing that he will, but he will."

"Do you need me to drop you off at home?" Happy asked from the front seat.

MJ hesitated to answer, but Peter felt her unasked question of what he preferred. "I'll text you in a little bit. Maybe you and Ned can come over for dinner…or maybe just you, if you want."

"I'm expecting to hear from you today," MJ said. "You can take me home, Happy. Thanks."

After Happy dropped MJ off at home, Peter started crying. Not sobbing, but quiet tears. The silent ones. It was the kind of crying where he stared blindly at the floor while tears fell from his eyes and he didn't even try to stop them. He was sitting behind the driver's seat so Happy couldn't easily see him, but that didn't mean he didn't know. "You're gonna be okay, kid. You know that?"

"I do," Peter said, his voice steady but sad. "I just want some peace in my life. There's always something. If someone did a movie of my life, it'd be called Peter Parker: There's Always Something. Or maybe Spider Parker. Peter-Man? Who cares? It'll end with 'There's Always Something.'"

"I'd watch it. Who do you think should play you?" Happy asked, sounding more cheerful than maybe he should, but he was trying to stay clear of sad talk.

"Jamie Bell. I've thought about it more than I probably should."

"What about me?"

"Jeremy Piven. Easy."

"Who is that?"

"You're kidding me, right? Black Hawk Down? Serendipity?"

"He was in Black Hawk Down?"

"Yes! The guy who looked like he could play you in a movie was Jeremy Piven." A pause. "Actually, he looks more like you in recent years. Entourage, yeah. I mean, it's not a perfect match, but it's about as close as it could be."

"And Tony?"

"Tony would play Tony. Nobody else could. Thank you, but next."

At the Tower, Peter was feeling a little more hopeful than he did in the car. Some of the anxiety had drained away at the silly little game Happy started. Happy guided Peter into the Tower, taking more of a bodyguard role than he had in a long time. He didn't let his guard down until both himself and the teenager were in the building. "Friday, take us up to see Tony, please," Happy said as they got in the elevator.

Tony was lounging back on the couch when they came in. "Taking it easy?" Peter questioned.

"Pepper won't let me go back into the lab until I answer a few SI emails. So, yes."

"We have a situation," Happy said. Skipping over the less important conversations in favor of the most important conversation. "Skip showed up at Peter's school."

That got Tony on his feet and in front of Peter in seconds. "Are you okay? Did he do anything?"

"He was just talking to me. He tried to hug me, but Ned pretended to drop all of his things to stop him. I wasn't wearing my webshooters. It really freaked me out, but it's okay. Oh, and, um…" He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it over to Tony. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Did you smash it or throw it?" Tony questioned, taking the phone and inspecting it.

"I didn't realize how hard I was squeezing it. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It happens. We'll get you set up with a new one later." Tony had looked like he had been fighting with himself, but then he almost shrugged and pulled Peter into a hug. "I'm sorry these things keep happening."

"Did you make an anonymous report yet?"

"I did that this morning. Now all we can do is wait. I'm keeping you home from school tomorrow, okay? No big tests?"

"No big tests."

"He wants to invite his girl friend over tonight," Happy interjected, causing Tony to pull away and raise an eyebrow at Peter.

"My _friend_ who is a _girl._ Not _girlfriend._ It's MJ!"

"No Ned?" Tony questioned.

Peter felt his cheeks turning red, but he wasn't gonna bend to his awkwardness and nervousness. He kept his chin up instead of looking at the ground. "I have Ned over all the time without MJ. MJ can come over without Ned sometimes."

It took a few hours before Tony was ready to let anybody into the Tower to see _his_ kid, but MJ did eventually make it over shortly after Tony got Peter set up with a new phone and they transferred the information over. Happy picked her up without Peter and brought her over just as dinner was finished. Tony gave Peter and MJ permission to not eat at the table with everybody else (there were a few Avengers missing. They _did_ have their own lives) and they instead took control of the living area with the TV where they put on some music channel and talked. Peter had admitted to Tony that he was planning on talking to MJ about the situation, and he did. They talked about it over dinner with the food going mostly forgotten.

While MJ and Peter were talking, Tony was addressing the team. "We have a problem, and I'm not entirely sure on how to handle it," he said, hands folded on the table in a rare moment of seriousness. "There's somebody out there who is a threat to Peter's safety. Peter. Not Spider-Man."

Natasha, Clint, and Steve all joined in on the seriousness. After Tony explained the situation, Steve spoke up. "I'm assuming there's a reason you won't just go to the police."

"I gave the police an anonymous tip that he might be up to something, but I can't expect the police to take it too seriously. Pete doesn't want to trust the police not to let something spill to the public. If we went to the police to report this, his name wouldn't be mentioned because he's underage, but that doesn't guarantee that nobody will sell the information to some shitty news outlet who will then report on it."

"Like they did with the adoption," Steve said, nodding in understanding.

"You're talking to us for a reason," Natasha said slowly. "Are you asking us to handle this?"

"I don't know what I'm asking," Tony sighed. "If this bastard tries anything, I'll go to the police and just hope nobody leaks anything about Peter, and if it gets out, I'll help Peter make it through. But I don't want to make it to that point. I want it dealt with before anything happens. Today was already too much. This was the _third time_ he's been around my kid."

Natasha and Clint shared a look before Clint spoke. "We could handle it."

"Quietly," Natasha added. "Tomorrow, he can wake up in a different state."

"Or a different country if that's what you'd prefer."

Tony glanced at Steve who was already looking at him. "What do you think, Cap?"

"I think that we shouldn't even be talking about this, but we have to because the system is flawed. I'm behind you with whatever you think needs to be done."

Tony stayed quiet. He pulled out his phone and stared at his lock screen which was a picture of Pepper and Peter. He knew he should probably call Pepper and let her know what happened, but he was going to tell her later anyways, and he knew her enough to know that she'd probably prefer not to be part of this decision because she'd want to agree to have the spies get rid of Skip, but she wouldn't want to admit that out loud. Skip could have gone after more kids. He could still want to go after Peter. Peter could stop him, but would he remember that he could stop him if the time came to it? And even if Peter did remember that he had the strength to, that didn't mean that he should be put in a situation where he needed to.

"Do it," he said. Confidently. Surely. There was no second guessing. "I'll tell Peter later."

"Are you sure?" Clint asked. "I don't know how…okay he'll be with it."

"I can't hide it from him," Tony shrugged. "I'll handle it."

Later on that night, Peter was out on patrol. He had been given permission to stay out an extra hour because he wasn't going to school the next day. He was swinging along the city, mostly absent-mindedly. It was a quiet time, it seemed. He stopped a handful of carjackers, interfered during a mugging, and helped put a few drunks in a taxi. At some point, he just sat down on top of a building and told Karen to let him know if she catches wind of anything that he could help with. He had her playing music softly in this mask and he scrolled through Buzzfeed, taking stupid quizzes to pass the time.

A text from Tony popped up on his phone.

**Tony: **If you're going to just sit there doing nothing, you could just come home. Just a suggestion

**Peter**: Make me

**Tony**: "Just a suggestion"

**Peter**: Your suggestions are lowkey commands

**Tony: **You know your curfew

**Peter: **I'll be home

**Tony:** I know you will be

**Tony: **We gotta talk

**Peter: **First of all, I have anxiety, talk to me now

**Peter:** Is everything ok?

**Tony:** Everything is fine

**Tony:** Everybody is fine

**Tony:** We just gotta talk about something

**Tony:** Stay safe out there kid

**Peter:** I will

**Peter:** Be home soon

Sighing, Peter put his phone away and got up. He was doing nothing productive on patrol and there was no real reason to stay out anymore. He didn't exactly rush home, but he didn't take his time, either. When he got back, he stopped in his room to put on some lounge pants and a too-big shirt before meeting Tony in the living room. "What's up?" he asked, wanting to get right down to whatever it is Tony wanted to talk to him about.

Tony, without looking up from his StarkPad, tossed a container of baby carrots over to Peter. "We need to talk about him."

Nobody needed to tell Peter who 'him' was. He took a seat on the couch with his knees up to his chest as he started to munch on the carrots. Skip being brought up in the conversation didn't terrify him, but he did get a little nervous as to where Tony would be going with it. "Okay. What about him?"

"I know why you don't want to go to the police, so we won't do that. Unless we had to."

"Okay…?"

"But I don't want to wait until we have to. So, what if I told you there was a way to remove Skip from the area. He would just…be displaced, you can say. Painless. And, he'll never know why. He won't know it was for your safety. He'd just know he went to sleep in New York, woke up in, let's say, Arkansas, with a warning to stay as far away from here as possible."

Peter took a second and then squinted his eyes in distrust. "Is Natasha moving him from New York to Arkansas tonight?"

"Nobody is doing anything until we run it by you. I'm not going to lie to you and say if you ask us not to do it that we'll listen, but I figured you'd appreciate the communication." Tony finally looked up at Peter. He was trying to sound careless about the situation, but that would never work when he was staring right at his kid. Who looked sad. Maybe not scared which was good, but he looked sad. "We all want what's best for you. I know that's a cliché, but it's true. We're worried. We know you're scared about it, too. We're just trying to stay ahead of it. I don't want him to show up here at the Tower looking for you, or I don't want him to follow you around. Hell, I don't want him to accidentally see you passing by him on the street. You're my kid and you deserve to be as safe as I can make you."

"I almost wish I went to the police about this when it happened," Peter said, not really letting any silence pass between them. "That way this wouldn't be happening now, and yeah, people would know, but it wouldn't be a big thing now."

"I know, kid. But it has to be a big thing now."

"You can do what you think you need to do, dad," Peter said, more resolved to what was happening than anything. "I won't fight you on anything."

"But what do _you_ want?"

"I want this to be in the past forever. If Natasha, or Clint, I don't know who you recruited for this, is the best way to go about it, then I guess that's the best way to go about it." Peter sighed, put the carrots on the ground, and moved to the other end of the couch where Tony was. He sat next to him and put his head on his shoulder. Tony responded immediately by wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Do what you think is best."

"Okay, kid. Do you want to sit out here for a while?"

"Can we?"

"Of course. We can sit out here all night if you want. You have no school tomorrow and I…well, I have important things to do tomorrow, but I was probably always going to skip out on that. That's what I have Pepper for."

Truthfully, as long as Skip was gone from Peter's life, Peter thought he'd be okay. Maybe what he needed was to see Skip to be able to put him in the past forever. Or maybe he just needed to feel the support of his family knowing that Skip was in the present and not just in the past. Sure, they were there for him in memories, but they were also there for him when Skip was a problem in real time. Maybe he just needed to see Skip and know that he was emotionally stronger now than he was then, and he was able to make it. Able to survive. Maybe this was what he needed to get rid of Skip for good.

"Love you."

"Love you, too, kid."


End file.
